


Oddly Botkins

by Izzu



Category: BBC Drama, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-03
Updated: 2012-02-07
Packaged: 2017-11-10 07:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/463510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Season 4 as well as post Vigil and Secrets. A collection of one-shots over the random odd things happening in Camelot, when the kingdom was not under threats. Aside from Merlin's and Arthur's antiques.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Girly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being referred to and teased with tons of girly jokes for far too many times can start getting repetitive too

Several weeks had passed by, and life continued to be so good. Well, occasionally on odd days there would be another threat coming to Camelot; some other attempts on Arthur's life by Morgana... or any other enemies of Camelot who wanted it to fall, or some incidents in some of the villages in the kingdom involving a plague or sorcery or some magical creature attacks on which case some of the knights or Merlin or Gaius or Arthur himself or  _all of them_  would probably end up checking it out. Not like there was anything they could not solve.

Somehow, the timing for Arthur to find out about his secret could not have come at any better time. Gaius often told him to wait for the time when Arthur was ready  _before_  confiding the truth to him. But with the many incidents where people who used magic for evil tend to make themselves  _appear_  before Arthur, Merlin could not ever be sure of  _when_  that time would ever arrive.

At least, right now... there was one worry being resolved. Extending that  _particular_  knowledge to Gwen next, as well as the knights  _and_  the rest of the people in this kingdom would be another thing. While Gwen might have been able to accept him  _calmly—_ Gwen after all  _have_  seen many things in the past; that was actually  _another_  miracle that she have not realised that he had magic at all, and she  _did_  occasionally noticed things about him... especially during the Lamia incident—he was not really that sure about the knights. It might take a bit of time with them... but he knew it would not be so wise to break the story to them so suddenly. And then there was the rest of the people in Camelot...

Well... he would worry about those later. That aside, having Arthur  _knowing_  his secrets now have been good. For one, if there was anything that might  _reek_  of evil sorcery... or if he sensed some danger lurking around the forest during the patrols and hunts—at least  _this_  time Arthur would pay heed to his warnings  _more_  than he used to. That could save a whole lot of trouble trying to sneak around to make sure that everyone was safe.

The only downside of this situation, was that Arthur tend to grow  _even more_  protective of him... even though the prat would never admit it. Yes, he had magic... but that part about him being clumsy was not an act. And Arthur always  _loved_  picking on him about that. And also... Arthur had insisted for Merlin not to worry about his safety too much to the point that he neglected his own. Talk about pot calling the kettle black!

Regardless, Merlin was glad over these turns of events... aside from  _one thing_.

xxx

"Don't be such a  _girl_ ,  _Merlin_."

Merlin glared towards Arthur as he led his horse across the woods. He was never fond of these patrols and hunts; regardless of the fact he felt obliged to accompany Arthur to make sure he was safe, seeing that almost too often... enemies of the kingdom, bandits as well as strange monsters tend to attack them when they come out into the forest. But not always did those things happen to them yet he  _still_  did not liked it. Since if there was  _one_  thing that never changed, it was Arthur's habit of  _teasing_  him whenever they  _did_  camp out.

All right, he  _was_  a servant... but that did not mean they could bully him  _all the time_  without fail. There were such things like enough being _enough_.

"Haha very funny,  _Arthur_ ," said Merlin, mocking him with the same tone the king often addressed him. "But don't blame me if you suddenly stumble into some giant monsters out of the blue—" he paused as Arthur gave him a look that said 'not  _every time we DID stumble into trouble!'._

Merlin rolled his eyes at him. "And  _enough_  calling me and teasing me to be such a  _girl_. I'm  _not_  a girl and you've been telling me that so  _often_ that it's getting  _annoying—_ "

"That's why I  _often_  said it...  _Mer_ lin," said Arthur as Merlin reached his limits.

"Pretty rich coming from someone who had a  _pretty_  set of legs like a  _girl_ himself," Merlin added as Sir Leon snorted without warning.

Arthur stopped his horse and turned to glare at his knights who by now trying their bests not to laugh, before his eyes set on  _both_  Merlin and Sir Leon. That  _particular_  incident at the council room must have surged afresh in their minds. Merlin grinned as he braced himself of what was _sure_  to come...

"MERLIN!"

xxx

Once they have returned to the citadel, Arthur immediately dragged Merlin towards his chambers. He closed the door to his chambers behind him before turning towards Merlin.

" _Really_... Merlin?" he asked as Merlin shrugged.

"You  _know_  I spoke the truth..." he said again with a blank face as Arthur stared at him pointedly.

"As if you didn't have girly legs either? With you being so  _skinny_..."

Merlin looked back at Arthur before smirking. "Yours  _prettier_... do I  _have_  to prove it?" he said as Arthur could swear that Merlin's eyes... suddenly...  _glowing_...

Arthur hurriedly turned to look at himself before realizing that his  _pants_  have  _magically_  fell loose. He looked up to see Merlin trying his best not to laugh. Arthur grabbed his pants back on before starting to chase after the cheeky rascal.

"MERLIN, COME BACK HERE YOU TWIT!", he cried before several crashes and strangled laughter resounded from Arthur's sleeping chambers.

Gwen hurriedly entered the room before gasping over the unexpected sight.

"Arthur! Merlin! What were you  _two doing_  on the floor? And Arthur... why're your pants off?"

Arthur blushed deeply before sitting up straight as Merlin tried to suppressed his giggles. He shrugged as if they were not doing anything suspicious.

"It's  _nothing_! My pants suddenly got loose...  _silly Merlin_!" he said before slapping Merlin's shoulder  _jokingly_.

Merlin rolled his eyes at Arthur before smiling towards Gwen. "What're  _you_  so embarrassed about? As if Gwen  _never_  sees your long legs  _bared_ before, she's your  _wife_!" said Merlin as Gwen let out a gasp before covering her face with her hands. Arthur elbowed Merlin  _very hard_  before smiling to his queen.

"I'm all right, Gwen. Just need to tend to an  _unresolved_  situation for the moment. Don't mind us!" he said while gritting his teeth. Gwen chuckled before excusing herself from the room.

As soon as Gwen left, Arthur turned towards Merlin.

"Now  _back_  to business, off with your pants Merlin, let's see how  _girly_  your legs  _are as well_!", he exclaimed before jumping over his manservant. Merlin squealed as he tried to prevent Arthur from pulling down his pants.

Now  _that_  did not turned out too well...


	2. Clumsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because powerful and clumsy sounded so odd to be describing Merlin at the same time

Merlin glanced up from his work to see Arthur seemingly concentrating on reading his  _important_  parchments and books and nothing else. Yet he could not shake this feelings that he was being watched. He watched the young king suspiciously before going back towards the armour pieces he was meant to polish. Suddenly the hair at the back of his neck started to raise  _again_.

There it was again! The  _eye_...

Merlin looked up again, this time he finally caught Arthur staring at him red-handed.

"What's the big idea, Arthur? You've been staring at me for ages! It's annoying!"

The prat shrugged. "I'm just curious to see how clumsy you are at doing your work, which is at times I find it odd. Considering—like you said before—you're  _supposed_  to be the greatest sorcerer that would have ever lived."

Merlin glared at him before muttering 'Warlock... sire,  _warlock_  not sorcerer' over and over under his breath. He bit his lips before speaking.

"Arthur...  _no matter_  how clumsy I am throughout the times I've been by your side I've been polishing your armour for many years now. I won't suddenly be fumbling over it, now that you  _know_  all of my secrets. And being the most powerful warlock ever lived does not  _exempt_  me from having any  _flaws_."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "But you have  _magic_! Certainly you'd be able to do things  _more efficiently_  compared to other people..."

Merlin gave Arthur a long stare.

"Right, you'd think it be so  _easy_. You're not the one having to live all these years trying to do things  _normally_  without magic so that people would not  _know_  that you had it and honestly it  _wasn't_  easy to try to keep my magic in control most of the time without me using  _it_  out of instinct!"

Arthur gave him a look of amusement. "Is that why you're so clumsy all the time? Because you're so focused on holding on to your magic that you could not be more alert on the things around you?"

He grinned as Merlin shot him a 'wasn't that what I've been telling you just now' look before snorting. "Well... seeing that I  _knew_  about it now, you should be more at  _ease_  about it. Not like I would start panicking if you accidentally magicked something up here."

Merlin shook his head slightly before rolling his eyes at him. "And what'll happen if someone accidentally walked in and saw it? What do you think will happen if people saw a  _sorcerer_  sitting comfortably in the king's chambers with the king's  _presence_  nearby?" He sighed melodramatically.

"And I can't suddenly relax nor do anything without magic out of the blue—suppressing my magic nowadays already becoming a force of habit! Don't be such a  _bad_  influence...  _Ar_ thur."

He glared at the young king as that annoying grin remained pasted on his face.

"Oh? Am I such a bad influence now?"

Suddenly a pillow from Arthur's bed came flying towards Arthur's face as the king toppled from his chair. The young king climbed back up onto his seat as Merlin gave him a cheeky look.

"Yes... you  _are_."

Arthur shrugged. "Pity... I've been hoping to get  _more_  people to be aware of your  _hidden_  secret."

Merlin rolled his eyes at the king.

"And  _who_  again said that they're  _better_  at keeping secrets?"

Arthur grinned as he leaned on his chair.

"Well... it's not  _my_  secret to keep," he said as another set of pillows flew towards the young king.


	3. Getting old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What a good time spent, talking nonsense in the middle of the night while lying beside a campfire

"Hey, Merlin..."

Merlin looked to his side as Arthur stared back at him. He raised his brow at him. What on earth had got into the head of this prat? It was already night and the rest of the knights had already fallen asleep, save Gwaine who was supposed to be on guard—Merlin turned his eyes to check that Gwaine really  _was_  awake—oh good, he was. He turned back towards Arthur.

"Go to sleep...  _Ar_ thur."

Arthur elbowed him roughly. "I can't sleep, so you shouldn't...  _either_."

"Prat!" Came the reply as Arthur grinned. "... so what was it that the highness wanted from me that he just had to keep someone  _else_  awake alongside him?"

Merlin rolled his eyes at him. Arthur cocked his head at him. "Like really... Merlin," Merlin glanced sideways as he waited for Arthur to finish his sentence. "Ever wonder how long could we be able to live? With all these fightings and all I'd be surprised if I could remain alive even for several more years at most..."

Merlin sighed before shaking his head. "I'm sure you'll live long. I'll make  _sure_  you do as long as I'm alive so you shouldn't worry about that."

Arthur nodded. "Hmm... I guess so. I can't imagine what'll happen to me if you're gone—hey, doesn't that sounded as if I'm dependant on  _you_ to keep being alive?"

Merlin glared at him, looking a slight bit offended but Arthur reacted as if he had not noticed it.

"I wonder how'd I look then... being  _old_..."

Merlin snorted as Arthur kicked him lightly. He took a wary glance towards Gwaine before speaking to Merlin again, this time... with a much softer voice.

"Well... I've already  _seen_  how  _you'd_  look like when you're  _really_  old, no surprise there. Though you might want to  _remind_  yourself to  _brush_ your  _teeth_  more often..." said Arthur before snorting as Merlin pinched him. "I wonder how'd I look at that age."

Merlin snorted. "I bet you'd look as  _nasty_  as your father... and even more prattish. Old people tend to get  _more_  grumpy after all, what with the old bones and such."

Arthur poked his friend in amusement. "I take that as a  _personal_  experience then? You seemed  _so_...  _knowledgeable_  about being old."

Both of them went quiet for a while before Arthur whispered to him again.

"Why  _did_  you took that  _appearance_  anyway?"

Merlin gave him a look that said 'well, you  _do_  want to save Gwen that time, right' before shrugging.

"I happened to see an image of me like that at the crystal cave," he said softly before adding. "I can't accuse Morgana openly  _anyway_  so I  _had_  to create another sorcerer to shift the blame. The only one I know capable of doing that was  _me_... anyway. That plan nearly failed with you almost recognising me..."

Arthur grinned smugly. "Well... don't blame me," he hissed, "Not my fault you had a very  _beautiful_  set of eyes..."

Merlin chuckled alongside Arthur before doubling back towards him when he caught the word 'beautiful' on the last sentence. But before he could retort about that statement, Gwaine walked up towards them.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think I'd look the  _best_  when I'm much older compared to the both of you. I should not look too bad with grey hairs or even some bit of balding spots."

Both Arthur and Merlin snorted as they tried to imagine anything  _balding_  over Gwaine's head before Merlin spoke. "That'll be interesting. Though truth be told I fear to imagine what really could become of us when we  _all_  became older... if we remained the same until then. Can't imagine continuing to bicker with Arthur at  _that_  kind of age. We'd look like some odd grumpy old men bickering!"

Arthur chuckled before nudging Merlin. "Why not? You can't  _not_  allow me to continue picking on you even when my hair all greyed over and all. That'll be no fun!" He spared a glance towards Gwaine before adding. "At least that's better than having an  _old_  Gwaine tagging along with you. He'd might as well bore us all including his children and  _grandchildren_  with his  _boring_  grandfather stories."

Gwaine shoved Arthur light-heartedly as Merlin chortled.

" _Now_  I wonder how everyone  _else's_  going to look like when they're  _older_..." he said before Arthur nudged him again.

"Now  _who's_  keeping everyone awake now...  _Mer_ lin?"


End file.
